


for you

by seothsayers



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Office, Christmas Party, M/M, Seasonal Affective Disorder, Secret Santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:34:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27605666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seothsayers/pseuds/seothsayers
Summary: Here’s something tasty for you to eat, I hope you like this Christmas treat – Your Secret Santa.Or, Renjun's Secret Santa decides to leave a gift on his desk every day until their gift exchange.
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Lee Donghyuck | Haechan
Comments: 32
Kudos: 196





	for you

**Author's Note:**

> i'm too impatient to wait a month to post this so here you go christmas in november

Renjun walks into work on November 1st to hear Mariah Carey blasting through the office. He has half a mind to turn around and walk straight back out again, but there is something about ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ that reaches into the very depths of his frosted anti-Christmas heart and warms it, just a hint. 

It wasn’t that he hated Christmas – Renjun enjoys the festivities and the giving mood everyone finds themselves in. It’s just that winter was never a good time for him. Every year without fail SAD rears its ugly head and every year Renjun coasts by, feeling numb by it all. 

Renjun follows Mariah’s voice through the office until he finds the source: Donghyuck in the kitchen, swinging his hips back and forth and singing (unusually) off-key. Renjun clears his throat and Donghyuck spins, breaking into a grin when he spots Renjun at the door. 

“We had a deal,” Donghyuck says before Renjun can open his mouth.

Renjun sighs because yes, they did. No Christmas songs on the work playlist until after Halloween was over, to be precise. After the battle they’d had last year when Donghyuck had hijacked the speakers and played Wham’s Last Christmas for a week straight in _September_ (Renjun hadn’t been the only one who wanted to strangle him at that point, but he was definitely first in line), they had come to a much needed truce. 

“Just promise me you’ll start easy.” Renjun says. “I _will_ pull my hair out if we have to listen to this fifty times today.”

“I make no promises.” Donghyuck says, laughing when Renjun glares at him. “Nah, don’t worry. I have curated the perfect mix of festive and non-festive songs. It’s when December starts that you’ll really have to worry.”

“At least I have a month to prepare myself.” Renjun sighs. “See you later.”

“Enjoy the peace whilst you still can!” Donghyuck calls after him. 

Renjun doesn’t bother turning around to respond. He makes his way to his desk and boots up his computer. NeoGames was still pretty new – five years down the line they had one big game under their belt and Renjun was lucky enough to have been taken on to work on its sequel. The company was still pretty small with just over twenty employees, but it was infinitely better than the last role Renjun had been in, where he had been underpaid and overworked. 

An hour into the day, Yangyang rolls over on his desk chair, noseying at Renjun’s screen. “Looks good,” He says. “Because I know you’ll be working straight through until lunch, I’m here to pass on a message from Taeyong.”

“Oh?” Renjun lifts his head. 

“Check your email, they’ve sorted out who everyone pulled for Secret Santa.” Yangyang says. “Later.” He rolls backwards on his chair, back towards his desk space. 

Renjun saves his progress and opens up his email. Sure enough, sitting at the top of his inbox is a message from Taeyong. 

To: renjunhuang@neogaming.com

From: taeyonglee@neogaming.com

Subject: SECRET SANTA!!!

Hi Renjun,

I hope by this point Yangyang will have let you know about this. Just covering all my bases!!

Your Secret Santa this year is Yukhei! A reminder that the theme this year is small but useful – interpret that how you will. The only thing on Yukhei’s wishlist was food so...

Gifts will be given on December 18th and then you’re welcome to reveal yourself after that (as I’m sure most people will at the Christmas party). 

Best wishes,

Taeyong Lee

CEO at NeoGames

Renjun clicks out of the email and scans through the rest of his inbox. Yukhei shouldn’t be too hard to shop for – he had started not long after Renjun had and they’d both clicked pretty quickly. 

Donghyuck drops down into his desk chair – conveniently (for Donghyuck, anyway) their desks are right next to each other – and raises his eyebrows. “Who did you get?”

“That defeats the point of Secret Santa,” Renjun says. “Would you tell me if I asked you?”

“Yes.” Donghyuck says, familiar cheeky grin on his face. 

“Well I guess it’s a good job I’m not asking then.” Renjun retorts. 

“I won’t tell, I’m good at keeping secrets.” Donghyuck says. 

“No.” Renjun picks up a pencil and throws it at him. “Go back to work or whatever it is you were doing instead of working.”

“You wound me, Renjun.” Donghyuck catches the pencil and aims it right at his chest, slumping in his chair and feigning being stabbed. “Look at what you’ve done.”

“I can’t say I’m sorry if it means we don’t have to listen to Santa Baby a dozen times in a row.” Renjun mutters. 

“I can’t believe you would slander Eartha Kitt’s name like that.” Donghyuck tosses the pencil back and Renjun catches it. “Despicable.”

Renjun rolls his eyes and turns back to his desk. “Yeah, yeah.”

…

Renjun sorts Yukhei’s present out early. He ends up going for a pair of Christmassy socks and a Cats the Musical tote bag because 1) Yukhei always carried so much stuff with him for some ungodly reason and 2) he was a fan of musical theatre apparently and Renjun had once spent forty minutes on a work night out nodding along as Yukhei listed all of his favourites. 

November seems to fly by. They wrap up on the design for their game’s sequel and Johnny pulls Renjun aside and asks if he would like to take the lead on design for their next project which he excitedly agrees to. Donghyuck keeps his promise and limits the amount of Christmas songs to one every hour (Renjun counts) and leaves Renjun’s desk alone when he goes on a tinsel decorating mission. 

It also gets darker and colder. Renjun finds it harder to get out of bed each morning and he’s taken to keeping a spare jumper at work so he can throw it on if it gets too cold. Renjun powers through the best he can, knowing that if he can hold out until the holidays, he could have a week and a half to just exist in his bed, in the warmth of his apartment. 

The snow holds out until December 1st. Renjun walks into work miserable – in the time he had been on the train the weather had taken a turn for the worst and now his socks were soaked through and his nose was ice cold. The minute the lift doors open to their floor, he’s greeted by the sound of Beyoncé in Destiny’s Child classic 8 Days of Christmas and various other voices singing along with her. Any other time he would roll his eyes and carry on but it was barely 9 am and he was already done with the day.

Part of Renjun is tempted to turn around and leave (he’s not one to use his sick days unless he really needs them, so he’s pretty sure that Taeyong wouldn’t mind if he asked for the day off), but then Jeno catches his eye and waves him over. He’s wearing a Santa hat and a tinsel necklace. Renjun narrows his eyes. Now that he’s properly looking, _everyone_ is wearing a Santa hat. “What on Earth is going on?” He asks.

With dexterous fingers, Jeno tugs off Renjun’s beanie and replaces it with a Santa hat of his own. “Taeyong decided to forgo the monthly team meeting. We’re putting up the Christmas decorations instead,” Jeno explains. “Everyone has a hat. It’s for bonding.”

“Bonding. Great.” Renjun mumbles as he trudges past everyone in the office to reach his desk. “Perfect.”

When he gets there, he notices a small tupperware box with a post-it note sat on top of his keyboard. _Here’s something tasty for you to eat, I hope you like this Christmas treat – Your Secret Santa._

Renjun opens the box to see three sugar cookies laid inside, all shaped like Christmas trees. He looks up and around but no-one is paying him any attention – they’re all gathered around the cardboard boxes filled with decorations. Renjun shrugs off his coat, sets down his bag before reading the note and eyeing the cookies again. 

He lifts one from the box and takes a tentative bite. It’s good – he’s not sure if it’s store bought or homemade, but either way it doesn’t really matter. He finishes it in seconds and then shuts the box and puts it in his desk draw. If he left it somewhere within reach he _would_ eat another and filling himself up with sugar before lunch was a recipe for disaster. 

Just then Johnny walks in, lugging the Christmas tree box over his shoulder. “We’re going to divide everyone up into different teams so everyone has something to do.” Johnny says. “Who wants to decorate the tree?”

In a cruel twist of fate, Renjun ends up on the same team as Donghyuck. The minute Johnny sets them off on their task – general office decoration – Donghyuck grabs some red tinsel and wraps it around Renjun’s neck like a feather boa. “It’s destiny,” Donghyuck proclaims. “Desk buddies to decorating buddies. You can’t get rid of me.”

Behind them, Dejun laughs. 

“Just my luck.” Renjun sighs.

Aside from Donghyuck, the eternal pain in Renjun’s side, the rest of their team is pretty solid. Taeil, Kun and Doyoung have a vision and Renjun is happy to follow their orders, holding onto a chair whilst Yangyang balances precariously to try and fix the coloured fairy lights to the wall.

“Hey, did you see anyone leave anything on my desk this morning?” Renjun asks Yangyang. 

“No, why?” Yangyang asks, taking Renjun’s hand and jumping down.

“My Secret Santa left me a gift.” Renjun says. 

“A gift?” Yangyang repeats. “What kind of gift?” 

“Some Christmas cookies,” Renjun says. 

“Cute.” Yangyang says. “I mean, even if I had seen anyone – which I didn’t – I wouldn’t tell you anyway. It would spoil the surprise.”

“I hate secrets,” Renjun sighs. 

“No, you hate secrets when they’re hidden from _you_.” Yangyang corrects. “There’s only seventeen days left. Have a little patience!”

Renjun is about to complain that seventeen days is way too long when there’s a commotion from behind them. He turns to see Doyoung wrestling a sprig of mistletoe from Donghyuck’s hands.

“We’re not hanging mistletoe above the office doorway!” Doyoung exclaims.

“Here we go,” Chenle mutters beside them.

“It’s just a decoration! If you happen to get caught under there with someone, you don’t have to kiss them, it’s not the law.” Donghyuck argues. “But… if you _do_ want to kiss them and they want to kiss you too, then great!”

“That is a HR complaint just waiting to happen. Did you forget about what happened last year?” Doyoung snatches the mistletoe away. “No.”

Sungchan sidles up to Renjun and Yangyang and whispers, “What happened last year?”

“Someone spiked the punch.” Renjun explains. “Doyoung and Taeyong got caught under the mistletoe and well… let’s just say we all saw more than we wanted to that night.”

Chenle snorts. “That was funny.” Renjun was ninety percent sure it was him who spiked the punch, so of course he would find it funny. 

“No wonder Doyoung is so against it.” Sungchan mutters.

The argument only ends when Taeyong walks over and takes the mistletoe from Doyoung, patting Donghyuck on the shoulder. “We can put it up somewhere discreet for the Christmas party.” He says, ignoring Doyoung as he splutters beside him. “Until then, I’m going to lock this up in the safe.”

Donghyuck looks a little put out for the rest of the morning. Renjun can’t pretend he understands why, it’s only mistletoe after all, but whenever he sees a frown on Donghyuck’s face it makes him feel a little uneasy. Renjun drags him along to stick paper snowflakes on the glass walls of the conference room and when Chenle disappears to grab more supplies, Renjun takes his chance. “Are you okay?” He asks. 

“I’m fine.” Donghyuck says. 

“Are you sure?” Renjun asks. “You’ve gone really quiet.”

Donghyuck presses his lips together. “Yeah, don’t worry about it. Thanks for asking though.”

They finish decorating just before lunch. Before Donghyuck can leave for the break room, Renjun grabs Donghyuck’s arm and pulls him over to his desk. “My Secret Santa left me some cookies this morning.” He says. “I suppose since I’ve already eaten one I can spare one for you.”

He offers the box out to Donghyuck. There’s an unreadable look on his face and he pushes the box back in Renjun’s direction. “I can’t take one, they’re for you,” He says.

“Sharing is caring.” Renjun says. “If you don’t take one within the next minute I will eat it and it’ll be your loss. They’re quite tasty.”

Renjun holds out the box again. Donghyuck looks at him before giving in with a small smile. “Fine. Thank you.”

“Thank my Secret Santa, not me.” Renjun says. “Do you think they made them? Or did they just buy them from the store?”

“They don’t look like any store decorated cookies I’ve had before, so I’m going to say homemade probably.” Donghyuck says, taking a bite. “Hey, this isn’t bad.”

“I told you.” Renjun says, shoving the final cookie into his mouth. “I probably should have saved that one for later. Too late now.”

“Ah well. Maybe next time.” Donghyuck finishes off his cookie. “Thanks Renjun.”

“Anytime.” 

Donghyuck’s smile reappears, full and bright, and he leaves, spring returned to his step. 

…

Renjun isn’t expecting to walk into work the next day and find another tupperware box. When he spots it he stops in his tracks. He closes his eyes and then opens them again slowly. The box is still there. Renjun opens it and peers inside. Today it’s gingerbread, all with iced yellow bow ties. He scans around the room, but once again, no-one seems to be paying him any mind. 

The gingerbread is followed the next day by mini jam tarts, then after that it’s chocolate chip cookies and then shortbread. Renjun finds waking up a little bit easier, knowing that there’s something unexpected waiting for him when he gets to work. They all taste good too – whoever his Secret Santa is knows their way around the kitchen and Renjun is both jealous and impressed.

“I don’t understand why they’re giving me something everyday.” He says to Jaemin in the break room. “Regardless of whether they’re making these then self or buying them from a bakery, they’re going way over budget.”

“Don’t question it.” Jaemin responds. “It’s a nice treat. Clearly they think you deserve it.”

“I’m more amazed by the amount of tupperware they have.” Jeno mutters, swallowing down the half of brownie that Renjun had given him and Jaemin to split between them. 

“Shit, maybe I should be leaving it for them to take back.” Renjun frowns. 

He does just that – putting all the tupperware he had collected over the week into a plastic bag with a note apologising for not returning it sooner. Renjun doesn’t see who takes it – Kun takes him out of the office early to get dinner that evening – but it’s gone when he gets in the next morning and there’s a note on his desk. 

_Not to worry! I have plenty at home but I appreciate the gesture. Today’s treat is macarons :) If they’re bad, don’t tell me. It’s my first time making them so there is always room for improvement!_

Renjun sits down in his seat bewildered. 

Whoever his Secret Santa is has gone over and above already. It puts his funky socks and tote bag for Yukhei to shame. He feels a little bad – how much time and effort is this taking? How much money is this costing? Baking supplies aren’t cheap, especially not when you’re making the variety of goods his Secret Santa is. 

“You’re overthinking.” Yangyang tells him when Renjun corners him at lunch. “Whoever it is, they’re doing it because they want to. If they couldn’t afford it or didn’t have the time, they wouldn’t be doing it, it’s as simple as that.”

“Maybe I should get them something to say thank you.” Renjun says. “Give it to them when we’ve all revealed who we had.”

“If you want to,” Yangyang says. “Not that I know anything about whoever this is at all, but I’m sure just your thanks will be enough.”

Renjun narrows his eyes at Yangyang, but before he can prod him further, he’s speeding out of the kitchen with a grin. 

…

In the weeks leading up to the big reveal, Renjun’s Secret Santa continues to blow any expectations he has out of the water. Red velvet cupcakes, cinnamon rolls, oatmeal cookies and mini meringues. Renjun keeps each of the notes in his desk drawer and tucks in – one whilst he gets going, another at lunch and if he hasn’t succumbed to temptations he takes the rest home and eats them as a post-dinner snack. 

Renjun had tried to work out who was leaving him all the treats but his attempts to match the handwriting to others in the office had failed and waking up extra early to try and catch them in the act hadn’t worked out either – whoever it was was an even earlier riser than him and Renjun had nearly fallen asleep at his desk that afternoon. 

Renjun was impatient and he wanted to know but as each day passed, the day of the gift exchange crept closer. It was nearly time. The anticipation was killing him.

The day of the Christmas party, Renjun walks into the office to the sound of Feliz Navidad blasting through the office. No-one is at their desk – they’ve all congregated in the conference room where the table was filled with trays of food, paper cups and, of course, a huge pile of presents. 

Renjun ditches his stuff at his desk – no treat waiting for him today, but he supposes it’s a bit too much to expect one when he’s about to get his _actual_ present – and joins the others. 

“Renjun!” Johnny pulls him into a one armed hug. He’s wearing a green cardigan that’s decorated like a Christmas tree with baubles and tinsel. It’s a statement, but then again, it was Johnny. If there was someone willing to go all out, it was him. 

“You’re looking very festive,” Renjun tells him. 

Johnny laughs. “Thanks. Come and get yourself something to drink, we’re just waiting for a few others and then we’ll get started.”

Renjun sits beside Jisung and Chenle and watches as they argue about what Christmas film is the best. He has to agree with Jisung that Home Alone is superior – but he’s also pretty sure that Chenle couldn’t care less about Elf and is purposely trying to wind Jisung up. 

When everyone arrives, Taeyong claps his hands together. “Okay, take a seat everyone!” He says. “We’re going to go around and give everyone their presents and then we can all open them at the same time because I know some of you probably don’t want to be intensely studied by the entire room whilst you unwrap what you've been gifted. Also, half of you are too impatient to wait.” He looks at Doyoung who shrinks down in his chair, cheeks red. 

There are a few snickers around the room. Taeil hands Renjun his gift. It’s neatly wrapped with candy cane paper and a red bow on top. Renjun brings it up to his face and shakes it gently. There’s no sound and it doesn’t feel like another box of tupperware. When Taeyong signals for them to open their gifts, Renjun gently pulls away the paper and pulls out a book. 

There’s a note stuck to the top – 

_Dear Renjun,_

_Have you figured it out yet? I struggled with what to get you at first but then decided to put my skills to good use and bake you some treats. It’s been fun seeing you come into work and trying them out. I’ve compiled all the recipes together so you can try them out yourself._

_This book is for when you’re craving something sweet, when you’re bored or when your mind is busy and you don’t want it to be. Winter doesn’t seem to be the best time of year for you so I hope these gifts brought you a little joy at least._

_Take care of yourself._

Renjun clutches the book between his fingers. He flicks through and spots that the recipes inside are all handwritten with little drawings and pictures of the finished products. 

Renjun refuses to cry at work. He quietly clears his throat and blinks away the tears in his eyes. It just was nice – it felt good. In his old workplace, his coworkers barely knew his name and yet here – here he was noticed. 

There was no better feeling than knowing he was valued. 

“What did you get?” Yangyang asks, sidling up beside him. Renjun hopes it’s not too obvious how close to a meltdown he is. Either way, Yangyang doesn’t say anything. “I got a hoodie that was definitely over budget… I think it was from Kun.”

Renjun holds up the recipe book. “I think this is a sign for me to start baking.”

“Sweet. Get it? Sweet!” Yangyang laughs. “I expect you to start bringing the finished product in every week so I can judge your baking skills.”

“Okay, Mary Berry,” Renjun laughs. “We’ll see how well I do first.”

Yukhei finds him after. while and pulls him into a big hug. “I put the socks on already,” He pulls up his trousers to show off his snowman socks. “I love the bag too. Thank you.”

“How did you know it was me?” Renjun asks. 

“You’re the only person in the office apart from Kunhang who knows I love musicals and Kunhang tells me everything.” Yukhei laughs. “You were the only other choice.” 

“Oh.” Next year Renjun would have to be less obvious. 

“I love it though! I’ll use it with pride.” Yukhei grins. “Hey, maybe for our next work social we can have a giant in office movie session and I can bring along some of my favourite musical DVDs?”

“I think Taeyong would love that actually.” Renjun tells him. 

The rest of the afternoon is spent playing the various Christmas themed games the company had somehow amassed over the years. There’s a round of Christmas pictionary and a pin the tail on the reindeer that quickly goes south. It’s really fun – after a few hectic months Renjun feels like he’s finally starting to unwind. 

His Secret Santa doesn’t come forward. Neither do they approach him at the company dinner – Taeyong had booked them a giant table at a local place with the promise that he would foot the bill. Renjun orders lightly – twenty three people is a lot to pay for, but he feels better when he notices Johnny arguing with Taeyong and then succeeding in splitting the bill. 

After the dinner, they head back to the office for the party part of the party. Even though they didn’t have to come in until midday, Renjun still feels exhausted – his social battery is slowly draining. Still, Renjun is determined he’s not going home until he figures out who his Secret Santa is. 

He steers clear of the punch – Chenle’s lurking beside the bowl with a sly smile on his face – and grabs a beer bottle instead, making his way to one of the empty chairs and surveying the room. There are a few people he could tick off his list – Yangyang was right about Kun being his Secret Santa and he knew that Jeno pulled Taeil, but aside from that he was still stumped. 

It’s then that Donghyuck finds him, sliding across the floor in his socks and stumbling into the seat beside him, having forgone his shoes at some point after they got back from the restaurant. 

“Are you drunk?” Renjun asks. 

“No, my feet were hurting.” Donghyuck says. He nudges Renjun lightly with his elbow. “What are you doing over here in the corner?”

“Trying to figure out who it is that’s been leaving me gifts all month.” Renjun admits. 

“Well what clues have you got so far?” Donghyuck asks. He has a cup of punch in his hand and he takes a sip before pulling a face and setting it down on the table behind them. 

“They like to bake and they can bake well.” Renjun says. “That narrows it down significantly, actually, there are a limited number of people here who know their way around a kitchen.” 

Donghyuck laughs. “Okay, what else?”

“Not much really. They know me well enough to know what I’ll eat and they were skilled enough to change up their handwriting so that I couldn’t match it to anyone’s in the office.” Renjun says. “I’m kinda stumped.”

“Renjun Huang.” Donghyuck turns him around so that he can place both hands on Renjun’s shoulders. “I have to admit, I thought you would have guessed a long time ago. Clearly, you’re not as smart as I thought you were.”

Renjun frowns. 

“Renjun, it was me.” Donghyuck laughs. “I’m your Secret Santa.”

“Oh.” _Oh_. It made sense, when he thought about it. Donghyuck had been at the desk beside Renjun’s from the day he started at the company, they spoke everyday (even if it was just Donghyuck saying something stupid and Renjun trying to block him out whilst he worked). He could cook – he brought his own food in for lunch more often than not – and more importantly, he could bake – Renjun had seen pictures of the cake Donghyuck had made to celebrate the release of the company’s first game. 

If there was anyone who was going to notice his change in mood it was the person who was by his side everyday. 

“You…” Renjun trails off. 

Donghyuck removes his hands from Renjun’s shoulders and folds them into his lap. “It wasn’t too much, was it? I just remember how rundown you were last year and how ill you made yourself by working nonstop. I didn’t want to see you go through that again,” He frowns. 

“No, it was perfect.” Renjun says. “I really appreciate what you did for me, Donghyuck. It was really nice to know I had something to look forward to everyday.”

“I even kept the Christmas music to a minimum.” Donghyuck says. “Partially because I didn’t want a repeat of last year when you chased me around the office with that stapler, but also because I get it’s kinda mind numbing after a while.”

Renjun laughs. “I appreciate that too. Seriously. You made my days a little brighter. Thank you.”

Donghyuck looks pleased at that. “Do you think you’ll actually use it? The recipe book?”

“I want to.” Renjun says. “I need to get supplies first, but I noticed you gave them all difficulty ratings so I’ll know where to start when I give them a try.”

Donghyuck opens his mouth to speak and then closes it again. 

“What?” Renjun asks. 

“On a scale of one to ten, ten being yes, one being absolutely not, how would you feel about ditching this party and coming over to mine to make something. A cake, brownies, anything.” Donghyuck asks. 

“You want to leave?” Renjun asks. 

“Even the most social of people need a break sometimes,” Donghyuck points out and Renjun can’t argue with that. 

“I would say I was at a nine.” Renjun says. “It’ll be a ten if we can stop off at the store and grab some cheap wine first.”

“Deal.” Donghyuck leaps up out of his seat. “Let me go and find my shoes.”

Renjun makes the rounds and says goodbye to everyone once he grabs his stuff and waits for Donghyuck in the corridor. Donghyuck’s not far behind him and they walk to the lift, talking about the mess they’re no doubt leaving behind. 

Renjun can’t help but laugh as the doors to the lift open and they step inside. 

“What?” Donghyuck asks. 

Renjun points to the mistletoe hanging off the mirror. “I can almost guarantee Doyoung will end up caught making out with someone _again_.”

“It’s the punch,” Donghyuck says. “It’s lethal.”

Just before the doors open, Renjun leans over and presses a swift kiss to Donghyuck’s cheek. He grins at Donghyuck’s splutter of surprise and the pink flush that spreads over his skin. 

“Merry Christmas Donghyuck.”

**Author's Note:**

> [twt](https://twitter.com/seothsayers)


End file.
